The classic theory about political institutions throughout Russian history is that of the "Mongol Yoke" - the idea that Muscovy, the progenitor state to the Russian Empire, USSR, and modern Russia was founded on the basis of essentially being a tax/tribute collector for the Mongols/Tatars. This created Russian political institutions that were autocratic and not checked by competing institutions, such as the church or nobility or merchant classes, because the state could always call on the superior might of the Mongol military to crush threats to its power

Even after the Mongols/Tatars were diminished or defeated, the Russian state retained this arbitrary, autocratic character through the eras of Tsarist absolutism and Soviet totalitarianism, to the modern Russian security state

This is a classic theory about Russia that I have heard, but how much is it accepted by modern historians? Like so many classic theories, has it been debunked or cast aside in academia?